[Fair Trade] Collusion Fines Raised 20x, Expanded Ad Sanctions: Signs of Full-Scale Fair Trade Regulation

Prompted by sanctions over a Mercedes-Benz electric-vehicle battery advertisement, fair-trade standards for product-specification advertising are being tightened. Since distortion or omission of information about key components can also be judged as "deceptive advertising," this is escalating from a mere matter of expression into a legal risk. In particular, in industries with fierce technological competition, marketing that emphasizes performance and component information is essential, so the likelihood of conflict with regulations is also growing. Accordingly, companies must establish systems that manage their marketing strategy and labeling-and-advertising compliance together.

With collusion surcharges raised by up to 20 times, fair-trade regulation is being strengthened across the board. Beyond the expansion of surcharges, stronger whistleblower rewards and even structural sanctions for repeat violations are being discussed, and the intensity of regulation is on a rising trend. Collusion risk is expanding to a level that can affect corporate finances and management structures, going beyond administrative sanctions. It is time for companies to re-examine their fair-trade compliance systems with a focus on advance prevention rather than after-the-fact response.

As the entire process of managing subcontractors' technical data becomes subject to Fair Trade Commission investigation, the risk of technology misappropriation is becoming reality. Since sanctions are now possible even for a procedural violation at the stage of requesting technical data, existing trade practices may translate directly into legal risk. In particular, as even the scope of data use and internal sharing processes are included as inspection targets, companies' management burden is expanding, so companies need to build an advance management system covering the entire process from the request for technical data through its use.